JEWEL OF THE JUNGLE

"Come on, Julie! Let's go!"
I groaned. Mum was going on one of her boring treasure seeking jobs again. Now, don't go thinking my mum's just like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. No, she isn't. Her job's a bit less exciting. All she does is travel around the world, collecting jewels for the dusty little museum she works for. Last time she went, I asked her where does she go to look for the jewels? She told me that she mainly digs in caves and temple ruins, but she isn't onme bit like Lara Croft, because she never meets any man-eating tigers or living mummies. She always leaves me at home with my dad whenever she goes off on her jaunts, but this time, she was taking me with her because Dad was going off on some business trip to France, which he felt would be quite boring for me.
Mum came into my room. "Oh, Julie," she sighed, when she saw my practically suitcase. "We are going to the Amazon Jungle. Where do you think you'll be cleaning your teeth and how do you expect to straighten your hair without electricity? Come here."
She took out my toothbrush and hair straighteners;
leaving only a couple of t-shirts and two pairs off shorts.
"We're only going for the weekend," Mum argued, when I protested about my lack of clothes.

In two hours time, we were travelling down the Amazonian River in a canoe. It was just going to be just Mum and I in the canoe, but we were joined by a man named Ian Powell. He had sat next to Mum on the plane and they'd got talking. She told him she was a treasure seeker who collected jewels for a sleepy little museum she worked for. He'd told her that he was also a treasure seeker, but he didn't work for a quiet museum, he did it for the exhiliration. He said he was on his way to the Amazon Jungle because he'd heard about a legendary collection of crystals that was said to bestow magic upon the owner, and he was on a mission to find them, and would Mum like to join him? I had hoped Mum would say no, I didn't like the look of this Ian Powell at all. He was a smarmy git, and right now, he had his arm around Mum's shoulders like they were a couple. There was something about him I just didn't like.
I was glad when Powell at last decided to set the canoe on land. I jumped off immediately. Mum and Powell followed.
"Now, Julie, Ian and I are going to go straight for that cave over there. Would you like to come with us?"
She looked up at Powell with such an adoring look that it made me feel positively sick. I didn't fancy going into a cave with the two of them at all.
"No thanks," I answered. "I'm going to explore this place."
"Okay, but be careful. Watch out for mosquitos!"
The jungle was so full of wet, green trees and big, brown rocks that it looked all the same to me. I felt sure I was lost now, and wouldn't be able to find my way back to Mum and Powell.
I kicked a stone really hard in my anger. Then I got a surprise. As I kicked the stone, it flashed purple. I bent down and picked it up. It was glinting purple now, and flashed other brilliant colours in the sunlight. Then I looked down at the other stones on the ground; I picked them all up. One glinted blue, while another glinted red and yet another one glinted green.
'I wonder if I've found those jewels that Powell was looking for?' I thought to myself.
"You're right!" said a voice. It was so soft and fluttery I wondered if I'd heard it properly. I looked around me for the source of the voice, but I saw nobody.
"Down here," said the voice.
I looked down. All the stones I was holding started glowing, and then I dropped them because they suddenly felt hot. But instead of dropping directly to the ground, the stones hovered in the air. I felt sure that there were magnets involved somwhere. And then the world was suddenly filled with a bright white light. When it subsided, I sdaw a group of fairies looking at me.
I rubbed my eyes, eager to make sure I was hallucinating. But they were still there, real as real. They were tiny little people, with wings. Just like Tinkerbell. One was dressed in a purple dress, one was dressed in a red dress, and the others were dressed in green and blue dresses.
"We are the Amazonian Fairies," said the purple one. "We protect the jungle from evil doers. We mainly disguise ourselves aas crystals. I'm Amethyst. And this is Sapphire-" she pointed to the blue fairy. "Ruby-" Pointed at the red fairy. "And Emerald-" The green fairy was pointed at. "Who are you, and how may we help you?"
I cleaned out my ears. Surely there weren't fairies talking to me? But there were no evidence of earwax; so the other option was, was I going mad?
"Are you alright?" The fairy named Emerald asked.
"Yes," I said. "Uh, well, my name's Julie. And I'm here with my mum. She's a treasure seeker, you see, and she hunts down crystals and jewels for this sleepy little museum she works for."
"Oh, you can't mean Abigail Croft, can you?" The blue fairy named Sapphire asked.
"Huh? You know her?"
"Yes, your mother's famous amongst us Jungle-Dwellers. Jungle-Dwellers from all around the world - and even the Cave-Dwellers all around the world - have helped her find half the treasure stored in your sleepy little museum."
"Oh, wow!" I exclaimed. "She never told me that!"
"Well, would you have believed her, if she did?" Amethyst scrutinized.
"Well, no," I admitted.
"So, where is she right now?" Said Ruby.
"Well, she's at the bottom of a cave with another treasure seeker. His name's Ian Powell."
At these words, all four fairies gasped.
"Did - Did you say Ian Powell?" Asked Amethyst.
"Yes, why, do you know him?"
"Yes," Amethyst answered. "He's another one wjho's famous amonsgt us Jungle-Dwellers and Cave-Dwellers. He, like your mother, knows about us. But he's evil. He travels around the world, looking for us when we are in our crystal form. Then, before we can revert to our fairy form, he crushes us up, so there's nothing left of us but Essence. Which is death to a fairy. Then he rebuilds us into soulless crystals. And sells the soulless crystals for what he calls a Great Profit."
"Oh, my God, that's awful!" I exclaimed. "I knew there was something I didn't like about him. Can't we do something?"
"No, we fairies are too small to be a match for him," Sapphire told me.
"But I'm not!" I insisted. "I'll stop him."
"Well, okay," said Amethyst, reluctantly. There is an incantation that you, as a human, can say." She flew over and whispered it in my ear.
"Quick!" I ordered. "Change back into your crystal forms immediately!"

I found the cave in quick time. As I got close to it, I spotted Mum and Powell emerging from the mouth of the cave.
"Well, I'm sorry we couldn't find your gemstones, Ian," I heard Mum saying. "I'm pretty sure we could find them somewhere else."
I'll be delighted for you to join me, abi," Ian was smarming. "I feel like you're the precious gemstone really."
'Oh, yuck,' I thought, as I watched the slimy git plant a wet kiss on Mum's cheek.
I took a deep breath, and started walking towards them as if I hadn't been watching them for five minutes.
"Oh, there you are," Mum smiled, as she saw me. "I was wondering where you were."
"What's that in your hands?" Asked Powell, lunging for me.
He grabbed the gemstones off me, and peered at them. "Oh!" He exclaimed. "Oh, my God! I don't believe it! I found them! These are the crystals I was looking for!"
"What, those things?" Mum laughed. "They look ordinary to me."
"They aren't ordinary," I said. "They are actually fairies in crystal form. And this man-" I pointed at Powell. "Is a fairy killer. He reduces fairies to Essence, builds them up into soulless crystals and sells them for huge profits!"
Mum was listening to me, looking like she'd thought I'd lost my marbles. she looked at Powell for reassurance.
"Tell me she's joking, Ian."
Powell's face had gone milky-white, and he couldn't seem to get the words out.
Mum got the message. "I can't believe it, Ian. How could you do that to such poor little fairies?"
I looked him straight in the eye. And yelled out: "MEMORIOUS REVERSIOUS!"
A brilliant flash of white light came out of nowhere, pushing Powell back. He landed with a dull thud on the wall next to the cave. He was unconcious. Mum looked over at me, then down at the ground. The crystals that were lying there, all now hovered up, and slowly started emerging back into Amethyst, Sapphire, Ruby and Emerald.
"Please?" Mum asked. "What's happened to him?Her may have been a bit of a pig, but I don't want to have witnessed a murder!"
"Oh, don't worry, Mrs Croft," reassured Amethyst. "He's just had his memory reversed. When he wakes up, he'll think he loves fairies, and he'll also think that he works in a sleepy, little museum."
Mum and I looked at each other, and laughed.
We looked back as Amethyst and the other fairies flapped their wings closer to us.
"We would like to thank you, Julie, for saving us," Sapphire said. "And we would like to tell you now that you are now a true Human Fairy. and we would like to tell you your name."
But I've got a name already," I said. "It's Julie."
"No," said Ruby. "That's your Human Name. We want to tell you your Human Fairy Name."
Then the green fairy, Emerald, buzzed right up into my ear. She whispered one, solitary word. But it was enough to sound magical and special:

"Jewel."

The End by Charlene Samm